Andrew Wylie (judge)

Andrew Wylie
Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia
In office March 18, 1863 – May 1, 1885
Appointed by	Abraham Lincoln
Preceded by	Seat established by 12 Stat. 762
Succeeded by	William Matthews Merrick
Personal details
Born	Andrew Wylie (1814-02-25)February 25, 1814 Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, U.S.
Died	August 1, 1905(1905-08-01) (aged 91) Washington, D.C., U.S.
Resting place	Oak Hill Cemetery Washington, D.C., U.S.
Political party	Republican
Spouse	Mary Caroline (Bryan) Wylie (m. 1845-1896, her death)
Parents	Andrew Wylie Sr. (father) Margaret (Ritchie) Wylie (1791-1859) (mother)
Education	Transylvania University Indiana University Bloomington
Profession	Attorney

Andrew Wylie Jr. (February 25, 1814 – August 1, 1905) was an associate justice of the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia.

Education and career

Wylie was born February 25, 1814 in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania, Wylie was the eldest son of Andrew Wylie (the first president of Indiana University) and Margaret Wylie (née Ritchie). His maternal grandfather was Craig Ritchie, a Scottish-American immigrant pioneer and Pennsylvania state lawmaker. Her maternal uncles included David Ritchie (a Pittsburgh city councilman, U.S. congressman, and judge).

Wylie attended Transylvania University and Indiana University Bloomington, graduating from the latter in 1832. He studied law with Walter Forward, and was admitted to the bar in 1837. He practiced in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, from 1837 to 1848, serving at some point on the Pittsburgh City Council and acting in 1845 as Pittsburgh city attorney. In 1845, Wylie married Caroline Bryan, the daughter of Daniel Bryan. They would have four sons, only one of whom (Horace) survived to adulthood. His wife was maternally a member of the esteemed Barbour family of Virginia. In 1848, he moved his practice to Alexandria, Virginia where his wife had grown up.

Wylie and his wife would in Alexandria until outbreak of the American Civil War. Both the Wylie and Bryan families opposed succession, and remained unionists during the war. Amid the war, he moved to Washington, D.C., and had his wife move to Pennsylvania for safety. His wife's sister and brother-in-law (Mariana and Jedediah Hyde Lathrop) also moved their family to Pennsylvania, while father remained in Alexandria. After moving Washington, D.C. circa 1861, he practiced law there until 1863.

Federal judgeship

Wylie was nominated by President Abraham Lincoln to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia on March 10, 1863, and was confirmed by the Senate on March 12, 1863. However, the Senate voted to reconsider the confirmation on March 13, 1863, with no subsequent Senate vote. His nomination expired on March 14, 1863, with the sine die adjournment of the special session of the 38th United States Congress.

Wylie received a recess appointment from President Lincoln on March 18, 1863, to the Supreme Court of the District of Columbia (now the United States District Court for the District of Columbia), to a new associate justice seat authorized by 12 Stat. 762. He was nominated to the same position by President Lincoln on January 5, 1864. He was confirmed by the United States Senate on January 20, 1864, and received his commission the same day. His service ended after his retirement on May 1, 1885.

Later career and death

Following his retirement from the federal bench, Wylie resumed private practice in Washington, D.C., from 1885 to 1905.

In 1868, his wife gave birth to their son Horace, their only child who would live into adulthood. Horace would remain a resident of Washington, D.C. for many years, and he and his first wife (Kylie, with whom he has six children) became fixtures of the city's social scene. Horace would abandon D.C. and his family there to elope with Elinor Hoyt Hichborn. He would live to be a nonagenarian, dying in the year 1960.

He died on August 1, 1905, in Washington, D.C. He was buried at Oak Hill Cemetery.

External links

• Andrew Wylie, Jr. Family Collection, 1821–1945 at the Wylie House Museum, Bloomington, Indiana.
• Wylie family collection, 1822-1990, bulk 1840-1900 at the Indiana University Archives.

Sources

• Andrew Wylie at the Biographical Directory of Federal Judges, a publication of the Federal Judicial Center.